I have those nifty tabs at the top of the blog, and I have never linked anything to them. I should do that I suppose. But also, I don't wanna.

It's raining sideways...

But I think I will head out anyway. We have a new yogurt shop in town (that is HUGE news in this place) called Mochi. My friends from around the globe who have a Mochi say it is really good. The grand opening is today so I think it's a good day.

I've all sorts of things I want to blog about - deep, shallow, and stuff inbetween.. but my mind is too scattered. Even my March Favs for The Lipstuff Blog is very very slow writing today. Maybe I just need to pop in Dance Central and get my groove on. After Mochi of course.

Bloglovin

I'm adding my personal blog, as well as The Lipstuff Blog, to Bloglovin. It's a convenient place to get the blogs you follow (from all over the web!) into one convenient place. I've only been using it today but I am a fan so far!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

2012 is going to be amazing. I can feel it in my bones!

2011 was a year of transition for a lot of people I know. Professionally, emotionally, relationshipy. 2012 is the year things will happen. We (as a collective whole) will live up to the dreams we talk about. We will reach out for those goals. We will find peace in ourselves that nobody else can give us. We will connect as people and build each other up instead of tearing each other down. This is gonna happen in my world. I hope you'll be a part of it.

Martian Death Flu, North Carolina, Free stuff, and Reading!

The Martian Death Flu has had me at its mercy for five solidly intense days. It feels like three weeks. I believe I am starting to recover and I hope I am correct. Christmas is SO SOON! I would hate to be ill during the festivities. Lots of OJ, Vitamin C pills, more Thera-flu than I can recall, and tons of rest have been my friends. Also, I have a loving relationship with a box of Puffs Plus with Lotion now.

Unfortunately I was sick during FINALS WEEK! I did get my results back on my Statistics and Research final and I got an 81. Not what I wished for but so much better than it could have been. I felt like death warmed over the night I took it. I’ll not complain about the B. I am still waiting on the results of my other final, and a term paper. At this point I’ll be happy with passing grades instead of my usual stressing about OMG MUST MAKE BEST GRADES EVER!

I had to cancel my trip to North Carolina because I was just too sick to drive. Also, who wants to purposefully pass the Martian Death Flu to other people? Not me. So I have to go at another time. I will though. Nothing will stop me indefinitely.

In other non sicky news, I got chosen to sample some products and review them for this company. Then a few days later I got another offer from a different company to do the same. I feel really excited about that. My beauty blogging is paying off already! I need to do more vlogs also. I’ll review stuff in vlog format in addition to blogging. I don’t have an awesome camera though. I have horrible lighting too. Horrible. I’ll work on it though. Nobody starts at the top, right?

In other other non sicky news I met my Goodreads challenge for 2011!! I am super happy about that. Granted it wasn’t a dramatically difficult challenge, but considering I work full time and go to school full time and am a single parent, I think a book a month is a reasonable challenge. I am setting myself up for 13 books next year since I have to take one semester off due to financial aid thingees. Should I go for 14?!?! 

Buddha

My son is a self-proclaimed Buddhist. He declared this somewhere around the age of 10.

The University I am currently attending is a private University. It is also a Catholic university. I am not Catholic. (I’m not anything really. I’m a potpourri of many things.) We are required to take a religion course regardless of our major. Instead of all the Catholic classes I chose Eastern religions.

This class was as fun and enlightening as I imagined it would be. I loved so much about the course. But I have to be honest; it was also one of the harder courses I have taken. I am pulling an 83 right now. I am floored that I am making such a terrible B in the class. My final exam will make me or break me. If I get a C I will actually cry. A B makes me sad but not devastated. A B is really a fine grade all things considered. Still, I was so sure I would do better.

All in all I learned a lot and really feel more enlightened to so many things. A lot of the ways I had always felt about things are apparently not so isolated and weird – they actually mean something in other religions. It is a nice feeling.

Also, it helps me with Trey’s Buddhist life. He knew some basics when he declared this a year ago (two years ago almost?) but now I was able to say things like “Hey, did you know blah blah blah?” and we can talk about it. I even bought him a Buddhist statue. It is a healing Buddha (some of you know how disabling his allergies can be). (Side note:  I also bought him Tibetan healing beads made of yak bone – he said that’s as manly as a bracelet can be. Yak bone! And it looks really good on his wrist.)

I’ve always said my son was an old soul. He talks a lot and he is in so many ways a very typical 11 year old boy who is kicking in the door of being a 12 year old boy. But also, Trey is a wise soul. He has more patience (in some areas) than adults I know. His wisdom of friendship and life is often beyond my own understanding. Maybe he was a Buddhist in a previous life. (I have always believed in those, it just makes sense to me.)

What is the point of this post? A little whining about my grades (which I totally want to blame on a hardcore teacher {because he is insanely hard!}, but I know as a student it is ultimately my own actions that make the grades), an expression of my gladness to have learned that others do think the way I do, and also just to say that I am glad to understand this part of my son a little more. Overall, I think I just needed to make the end of that class something final. Working full time and going to University full time and trying to run a family as a single mom is a lot of damn work. A lot. Sometimes i just need a ritual ending. Maybe the end of each semester should result in a reflective post.

This is not a reflective post I suppose. It’s a bit self-indulgent to be relevant to anyone else. Still, it felt good to get these things written down. 

Don't give the squirrel Pepsi!

Sometimes I journal in my head while driving “I’ve got to open this next blog with ‘Trust me when I say don’t give the squirrels Pepsi.’ Because they HAVE to know how bad that idea is after what happened in the back yard.” And I write it all out in my head.

Then I get home. Dinner. Homework. Big Bang Theory. More homework. Shower. Read myself to almost asleep “CRAP! I didn’t journal about the squirrel! I’ll do it tomorrow.” Fall asleep. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

The problem with not blogging (or as it was called in the old-school days – journaling) in a while is that there is this need to make excuses. “Sorry everyone. I’ve been up to my eyebrows in homework.” Or  “So much over time. I didn’t mean to neglect you all for so long.” The list goes on and on.

I used to be one of the people who felt the need to explain to the world why I haven’t journaled in 5 weeks. I quit doing that (most of the time). I still apologize sometimes, but mostly I decided it was not required. I should never feel obligated to update a journal (aka blog). It is there for me to say things I want to say when I want to say them.

Now, if this were my profession or if I were heavily networking then I would A) blog more regularly or B) when I did miss a week I would try to offer something in exchange for my absence. Neither of those apply.

I know some of you don’t know me personally outside of the cyber world so you are here because you are genuinely interested in something I have to offer (Spazzing out in excitement over the newest Star Wars announcement? Photos of my Spiderman bathroom? My Pepsi addiction?). I freakin love you guys for being here! I’m just a big geek girl like any other. Your dedication means a ton. I feel like I do owe you guys something more regularly. I am assuming (if you are still reading) that you know I am not a regular journaler. I seem to be feast of famine here. Blog blog blog blog.. silence. Silence. More silence. Blog blog blog!

At any rate. Thank you all for your patience. Lazy bloggers need love too. Thank you guys for the love you show me.

How about my fellow journalers/bloggers? Do you guys apologize for being absent??

(And incase you wondered. Yes, I blog/journal in many places. Often these entries are written and then posted several places. Live Journal, Blogspot, sometimes Facebook, sometimes Gaia, sometimes my other Live Journal, sometimes TheOtaku, sometimes DeviantArt. I’m everywhere.)